Virtual cystoscopy - a promising diagnostic technique

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the diagnostic performance of virtual cystoscopy in patients with bladder diseases in comparison with conventional cystoscopy. Methods: Fifteen patients with different bladder patho-logies underwent volumetric spiral CT of bladder after filling it with contrast media (GE medical system light speed multislice scanner). The data were transferred to Advantage workstation AW4.0-03 and virtual cystoscopy was performed using the special software (Navigator GE medical system). All the patients later underwent conven-tional cystoscopy and the findings of both investigations were compared. Results: Virtual cystoscopy detected all 10 lesions with> 5mm size and missed I out of 3 lesions with 5 5mm size. The overall sensitivity was 90%, specificity was 100%, positive predictive value was 100% and negative predic-tive value was 83.3%. The average time taken per proce-dure was 8 minutes. No complications of virtual cystoscopy were encountered in our study. Conclusions: There seems to be good agreement as re-gards the site and size of lesions in both techniques. In the quest for a non-invasive investigation for assessment of bladder diseases, virtual cystoscopy is a promising tech-nology.

Keywords

• Virtual endoscopy
• bladder diseases.